During knee replacement surgery tibial trials, such as tibial trial trays and tibial trial inserts, are used to assist a surgeon in preparing the tibial surface for implantation of the tibial portion of the artificial knee. A surgeon often uses a tibial insert to determine the tibial implant size, to make the appropriate cuts and reams in the bone, and to ensure a proper alignment and tibial component thickness prior to implanting the tibial components themselves, for example.
Such a procedure typically entails making an initial cut on the proximal tibial portion of the knee; determining a preferred size trial tray and/or insert; placing the selected trial tray and/or insert over the tibial surface; and performing a trial reduction to ensure proper tibial component thickness and alignment. If, for example, after performing the trial reduction, the surgeon or other technician determines that the trial insert and/or tray is not of the proper thickness, the trial insert and/or is often removed and replaced with a different trial insert and/or tray having a different thickness. In other applications, one or more spacers or other modular components of the tibial trial insert may be inserted into the trial insert to adjust the thickness. These processes may continue until the appropriate thickness of the trial insert and/or tray is determined.